


This Is Just How The Story Goes, Unfortunately

by JjdoggieS



Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket, The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Child Abuse, Gen, Inspired By A Series of Unfortunate Events, Physical Abuse, Reginald is obviously evil, Slow Updates, The tags will change, but like in asoue, only the children notice, they're all adopted, this is for tori
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27593977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JjdoggieS/pseuds/JjdoggieS
Summary: Recently orphaned Hargreeves siblings, Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, Ben, and Vanya, who've just lost their parents to a fire. Their parents, Beatrice and Bertrand Hargreeves, died in a tragic fire that claimed their lives as well as burned their home to ashes, and orphaned their seven children.The Hargreeves orphans are taken to their new guardian, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, in hopes of having a somewhat normal, safe and sound, childhood, but things become much more unfortunate from there.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Ben Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Luther Hargreeves & The Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & The Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy), Vanya Hargreeves & The Hargreeves
Comments: 14
Kudos: 44





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fiveyaaas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiveyaaas/gifts).



> This is for the amazing Tori!! Who wanted this in a 3 fic exchange!!
> 
> This is probably gonna have really slow updates, because I'm planning to have each book from the series be one long chapter.

Luther, age fourteen, and Diego, age twelve, as the oldest of the adopted Hargreeves children had been instructed by their parents, Beatrice and Bertrand Hargreeves, to take their siblings, Allison, age ten, Klaus, age eight, Five, age six, Ben, age four, and Vanya, age two, to their local shoreline, Briny Beach. If it wasn’t for the fact that the cold September air had cooled the water to a temperature unfit for swimming, then the Hargreeves children would’ve spent the afternoon enjoying the cool ocean water and the warm air.

Rather today, Luther watched over his siblings as instructed, mostly Ben and Vanya since they were the youngest, while Klaus kept trying to get Diego to play tag, Allison continuously tried to ‘fix’ Vanya’s hair, annoyed that Five always did it lopsided. As Allison tried to ‘fix’ Vanya’s hair, Vanya would move to hide behind Five, who was annoyed with Allison for always trying to redo his work, and Ben was collecting the various seashells scattered around Briny Beach.

While the seven Hargreeves siblings spent the afternoon at Briny Beach per their adoptive parents’ instruction, a horrific fire, started by an unidentifiable source, burned their home to the ground, reduced to nothing but rubble and ash. But, worst of all, the horrific fire claimed the lives of their loving parents, Beatrice and Bertrand Hargreeves. Leaving the seven Hargreeves children, as orphans.

The Hargreeves orphans, not aware of the devastating fire, were still together at Briny Beach when Mr. Clay, the local bank manager, arrived. “Children,” Mr. Clay started, wringing his hands together as he spoke, “I have some  _ terrible _ news for you.”

Luther, Diego, and Allison gathered their siblings together, once having done so, Luther asked, “What is it Mr. Clay? What’s happened?”

Mr. Clay sighed before starting, “Children, I am, I’m terribly sorry, to, to tell you that-”

“Tell us what?” Diego asked, getting elbowed by Allison soon after.

“I am sorry to tell you children that,” Mr. Clay repeated, “there’s been a terrible fire.”

Allison asked, “How terrible?”

“I’m afraid your home has been burned down.” Mr. Clay answered.

Five then asked, “What about Mom and Dad?”

Mr. Clay sighed again, looking at the sand threatening to fill his shoes rather than the seven, newly orphaned, children in front of him. “I’m sorry to tell you children that, your parents did not survive the fire.”

While Ben and Vanya didn’t quite understand what had exactly happened yet, a heavy silence fell between Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, and Five. It was, understandably, difficult to comprehend that their parents had died. And that they’d never see them, or speak to them, again.

Luther, taking up his mantle as the oldest Hargreeve sibling, and therefore leader, collected himself enough to ask Mr. Clay, “Where will we go now Sir?”

Clearly, Mr. Clay was trying to lift the mood of the orphans, as he perked up and with an obviously fake, cheery voice, telling them, “We’ve already located your closest relative,” he pulled a note from his pocket, reading it over quickly before handing it over to the Hargreeves orphans, “your uncle Sir Reginald Hargreeves. We’ve already gotten in contact with Sir Hargreeves, and he’s agreed to take you all in.”

The Hargreeves siblings, mainly the oldest five, looked between each other, trying to figure out their plan of action. What the hell were they supposed to do now? Mr. Clay, on the other hand, turned on his heel and headed back towards the parking lot of Briny Beach, stopping once he reached the pavement and beckoned the Hargreeves orphans to follow.

Allison and Five took a hold of Vanya’s hands, while Diego and Klaus had Ben’s and Luther lead them towards Mr. Clay and his car. The seven Hargreeves orphans pilled into Mr. Clay’s car, Luther in the front seat, Diego, Allison, and Klaus in the back, Diego holding Ben and Allison holding Vanya, while Five sat in the trunk. With the seven children situated in the car, Mr. Clay began to drive them to their new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick Edit (11/18): Would you guys rather there be hopefully faster updates with the books split into parts (i.e. 2-4 arts each) or just 1 long chapter with slower updates for each?


	2. The Bad Beginning, Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hargreeves orphans arrive at their new guardian's home, Sir Reginald Hargreeves. And things only seem to go from bad to worse.
> 
> While some of the Hargreeves orphans, Luther in particular, try to remain hopeful about their precarious situation, the other Hargreeves are a bit more _realistic_ about it. 
> 
> And it certainly doesn't help that Sir Reginald seems to have some underhanded and morally dubious at best motives behind taking them in.

On their drive to their Uncle Reginald’s house, the Hargreeves orphans, whether Mr. Clay realized it or not, had a front row seat to seeing what was left of their home. The local bank manager drove in such a route that it took them right past their former home. There were still a few plumes of smoke wafting their way into the sky, but the fire, however large and devastating it was, had been completely put out. All possible fire engines or ambulances that may have arrived had long dispersed. Not even the remnants of a crowd of on-lookers lingered around the wreckage of their former home.

It felt as if, by passing by their former home without stopping to say goodbye, to what, or  _ who _ , exactly is up for discussion of course, and likely differs greatly amongst the seven Hargreeves orphans, but by getting no real closure of any kind on that chapter of their lives, it would become something that would linger, haunt, follow them, for quite a bit of time.

The only word that could come to mind as they pulled up to Sir Reginald Hargreeves’ manor, their new place of residency, was trepidation. The massive manor was dark, and in need of external repairs. The odd choice of a dark gray paint coating the entirety of the manor didn’t do anything to ease the general fear in the hearts of the Hargreeves orphans, nor did the broken wooden fixtures strewn across the manor’s exterior. When Mr. Clay’s car slowed to a stop, there was an overall feeling of dread the spread throughout all the Hargreeves orphans, it was almost like there was a sense of the misery and evil that breathed between the walls of the manor.

The Hargreeves orphans remained in the car for a moment, looking between each other and the manor before them, while Mr. Clay got out of his car, and upon realizing the Hargreeves orphans hadn’t gotten out of the car and weren’t following him towards the manor, beckoned them to follow him, much like he had done at Briny Beach not long ago. Begrudgingly, the Hargreeves orphans got out of Mr. Clay’s car and followed the bank manager at a distance as they trudged towards the menacing manor.

Just as the Hargreeves orphans, accompanied by Mr. Clay, reached their Uncle’s front door, their stand-in chaperone rung the doorbell on the manor, sending the Hargreeves a pitiful smile, which was meant to be reassuring, to off-set the evermore ominous tones of the manor’s doorbell. There was what felt like two minutes of listening to the doorbell ringing from within the house, the cool September breeze feeling ever colder as they waited on the porch waiting for their Uncle to answer. There was a moment or two, where the Hargreeves orphans had honestly thought that either they were actually at an abandoned house, not where they were meant to be living indefinitely, or their Uncle wouldn’t answer and they could go elsewhere.

But, as fate would have it out for the Hargreeves orphans, the front door opened with a creak, revealing a rather old looking man, with greyed hair and a golden monocle. “Sir Reginald Hargreeves?” Mr. Clay asked, before moving into introducing the orphans to their new guardian, “These are the Hargreeves children. The oldest is Luther, then we have Diego, and then Allison, next is Klaus, after him is Five, and then we have Ben, and Vanya, the youngest.” Mr. Clay gestured to each of the children as he introduced them.

Reginald showed no real interest in learning anything about the orphans. He didn’t seem to care for them in any regard honestly. Mr. Clay, as he had no real experience in handling cases in the regards of the custody or general wellbeing of children, simply left them with Sir Reginald Hargreeves without inspecting where they’d be left to stay in, and instead left them without another word, other than citing his need to return to the bank.

Once the Hargreeves orphans were left alone with Sir Reginald, his disinterested attitude towards them shifted into one of great malice. “What are you waiting for you filthy orphans?” Reginald hissed at them, “Are you waiting to be abandoned for a third time? Get inside.” The Hargreeves orphans quickly filed into the manor, none of them wanting to linger by Reginald anymore than they needed to.

The door closed with an unnerving groan and foreboding thud, throwing the already dimly lit foyer into further darkness. “Your room is on the third floor, at the end of the hall on the right.” Sir Reginald told them, “The right wing, the second floor, the basement, and the attic are forbidden from you heathens. You each will have chores to do each morning. Understood?” Their new guardian didn’t wait for a reply from any of his seven new charges, and walked into another room of the manor without a second glance.

The Hargreeves orphans stood in the darkened foyer for a moment, the eldest three exchanging looks of uncertainty, but ultimately figured it was best to go to their room, especially after not hearing anything else in the manor, ascending the two flights of creaky wooden stairs to the third floor. There were only two doors on the third floor and a presumable final set of stairs, which likely led into the attic. 

Allison pulled open one of the two doors, revealing a very empty room, with a sole single bed, a cardboard box, and a pile of stones. Thinking that  _ that _ room was obviously not meant to be their room, Allison pulled the door shut, moved across the hall to the other door and pulled that door open. But beyond that door was what had been made into a bathroom, based on the taped up, exposed piping and the carpeted flooring it wasn’t a commonly used room.

“Does this mean,” Klaus started, “that our room, is the one with the rocks?”

“No way.” Five replied, “There must be some kind of mistake.”

“Should we go ask him?” Allison asked.

Luther told them, “I’ll go talk to him. But, for now, you guys stay up here. And don’t break anything.” He sent pointed looks at Klaus, Five, and Ben in particular before moving to go back downstairs to talk to Sir Reginald.

“I’m coming with you Luther.” Diego decided, leaving their other five siblings to explore what may or may not be their new room.

“What?” Luther asked Diego, even though the two were already walking down the first flight of stairs, “Why?”

Diego scoffed, rolled his eyes and replied, “You tend to just, back down, from adults. Especially, when you’re giving them a first impression.”

“I do not!” Luther denied, although they both knew he absolutely did.

“Whatever. It’s not important.” Diego replied, they both settled into a bit of a tense silence between the two of them, not because of the other, but rather because of the imminent conversation they were about to have with their new guardian.

Once they reached the ground floor, they both waited with bated breath for any sound that indicated where their new guardian was currently hiding in the shadows from them. There was practically no noise coming from anywhere but the third floor where they’d  _ just  _ left their siblings. Diego and Luther wandered around the first floor of the manor, finding no signs of Sir Reginald in the kitchen, dining room, living room, his study, or any of the other rooms on the first floor that weren’t in the ‘right wing’ of the manor. The right wing was locked anyway.

Luther had started to head back towards the stairs, thinking of searching the forbidden second floor while Diego moved towards the door that lead towards the basement, which they only knew  _ was _ to the basement because of the ‘keep out’ sign stuck on it. Diego’s hand touched the doorknob to the basement when a voice boomed behind him, “What on Earth do you think you’re doing?”

Diego nearly jumped out of his skin while Luther stayed frozen on the stairs, Sir Reginald peered down at Diego with a disgusted look on his face, a cane he hadn’t had before pressed into his right hand. “I asked you a question boy,” Sir Reginald hissed at him, “and I demand an answer. What on Earth, do you think you’re doing?”

“I was, w-we we-were-” Diego stuttered.

“Quit that stuttering at once. You’ll never be a reputable member of society if you can’t get a mere sentence out without stumbling all over your words.” Sir Reginald demanded, “Now what is your excuse for going where you were strictly forbidden from going? Your  _ adoptive _ parents may have allowed you to do as whatever you pleased, but the rest of the world has rules and expectations that you’re meant to follow.”

Diego opened his mouth once more to give their asshole of a new guardian his excuse for what he’d been doing, instead, he was met with the stupid fucking cane in Sir Reginald’s hand hitting his jaw. “Go to your room this instant. There will be  _ no  _ backtalk in this house. You and your  _ brother _ will receive  _ corrections _ for your disobedience in the morning.” Sir Reginald ordered, and rather than argue with the man like he would’ve typically done, Diego, followed by Luther still frozen on the stairs, retreated back to their room on the third floor.

Luther wanted to say something, do  _ anything _ , but nothing made its way out of him by the time they reached their room, and by extent returned to their siblings. And as Diego pushed the door to their room open, Allison and Klaus looked over towards them and gasped in shock. “Diego!” Allison quickly pulled herself to her feet, giving up on trying to draw her sister’s attention away from Five, and instead moved to fussing over the red mark on her brother’s face.

“What happened?” Klaus asked, looking between Luther and Diego.

“Yeah Luther,” Diego started, glaring past Allison’s head at their oldest sibling, “why don’t you tell them what happened.”

“What did you-” Luther started, cutting himself off when Diego’s glare that was set on him hardened. With a sigh, Luther instead said, “We, he, got caught by um, Sir Reginald, and was  _ corrected _ for it.”

Allison, who’d always been a bit dramatic, even in more acceptable situations, sending shocked looks between Diego and Luther as she gasped “He can’t do that! That’s, that’s, you don’t hit kids!”

Klaus then asked, “Well what are we supposed to do?”

“Should we try calling Mr. Clay?” Five suggested, still on the opposing side of the small room from where Luther, Diego, Allison, and Klaus were, keeping Ben and Vanya  _ mostly _ occupied.

“What’s he gonna do?” Diego muttered. Moving from being by the door to sit on the edge of the only bed in the room, “Where else are we going to go? It’s not like we have  _ any _ relatives really, at least none close enough that we’d ever have met them, and how many people do you know that’s going to take in seven orphans? Face it, we’re stuck here, with  _ him _ until Luther’s 18.”

Klaus groaned and quickly counted, “But that's not for another, four years. I don’t know if I can handle four more years of this shi-garbage.”

Luther sent a glare at Klaus for his  _ almost _ curse before saying, “Diego’s right.” Which was quickly met with quite a bit of uproar between the eldest five siblings, and was quickly quelled by Luther adding, “There’s not a lot we can do. We’re only kids, and unless we want to be in the system and  _ likely _ get split up, this is our best bet at staying together. If it continues, I’ll call Mr. Clay and ask him to look for other options for us, alright? And besides, it’s only the first day, hopefully things will be better tomorrow.”

Things had  _ not _ gotten any better under Sir Reginald’s care. 

In the first month of the Hargreeves orphans living at his estate, he’d gone from being cold towards them to downright cruel. All seven of them had been given weekly and daily chores, and if they weren’t to Sir Reginald’s satisfaction he would  _ correct _ them, in order for them to learn the ‘proper’ way to do them. Luther, Diego, and Klaus, as the eldest three boys, were given the more physically laboring jobs as well as more often the ones to be  _ corrected _ by Sir Reginald. For a while, Luther had been adamant to his siblings that things would get better, eventually, and that there was no need to call Mr. Clay. That was at least, until Sir Reginald had invited a few of his  _ friends _ over for a dinner party one evening.

Five, Ben, and Vanya had been locked in their room upstairs since 3 o’clock that afternoon; Sir Reginald had a lock on the outside of the door installed the day prior, deemed that their presence would be more of a nuisance to Sir Reginald’s evening than be any form of help. With the youngest three of the Hargreeves orphans ‘out of the way’, Sir Reginald had given Luther, Diego, Allison, and Klaus specific jobs that they would have for the evening. 

Diego, due to his temperamental issues as Sir Reginald had put it, would be the cook in the kitchen so he wouldn’t ‘disturb’ Sir Reginald’s guests. Diego had never cooked anything beyond heating things up in the microwave and had always been cautioned by their mother against using knives since he could hurt himself. 

Allison's 'desperate need for attention’ had earned her the entertainer role, which had been specified to play the piano for the duration of the evening. Allison had never so much as touched a piano before, and she’d had great difficulty reading sheet music in her music classes at school.

Luther had been assigned the doorman, but was not given any particular reason for having been assigned the role like his brother and sister had. Upon asking Sir Reginald why he’d been given his job, Luther was promptly left with a red handprint on his cheek and was majorly ignored by their guardian for the rest of the evening.

And Klaus, the youngest of the Hargreeves orphans that had been allowed to not be locked upstairs, had been assigned to be the waiter for the dinner party of Sir Reginald and his friends. And, much like Luther, hadn’t been given a reason for being assigned his role; but, unlike Luther, hadn’t questioned it.

Just as it rolled into 7 o‘clock, after being given quite specific  _ and _ extraordinarily vague orders from Sir Reginald for the proceedings that evening, Sir Reginald’s  _ friends _ began to arrive, at right about the same time, but at such an interval that Luther had been ordered to close the front door in between each guest. Within the span of roughly fifteen minutes, Luther must’ve opened and closed the front door nearly twenty five times. And while he was a bit tired from the repetition motion, he’d forced a slightly painful smile to remain on his features for the majority of the evening.

Allison had been given several booklets of sheet music, most by composers she’d been yet to learn about, and all of which were far too difficult for her to be able to manage to play through. For roughly an hour, between getting the booklets and being expected to be playing prior to the guests’ arrival, Allison, with the help of Luther, had been rewriting the sheet music into notes that Allison  _ did _ understand. Sir Reginald had hissed at her to start playing at 6 o’clock, and had been told to continue playing until his last guest left. For a majority of her playing, while her face had been schooled not to show it, most of it, it had felt like her fingers were cramping up and were about to fall off within an hour of playing.

While Allison and Luther had been rewriting Allison’s booklets, Diego had been thrown into the kitchen and was told to prepare a three-course meal for thirty people. And he had less than two hours to have the first two courses ready, or else he’d face  _ corrections _ from Sir Reginald. Diego and Klaus had scoured through the few cookbooks that Sir Reginald had kept in his kitchen, and had both settled on salad, pasta with a meat sauce, and chocolate chip cookies as the best options, because of Diego’s lack of culinary expertise, shortage of time, and the seeming simplicity that each course had. Diego and Klaus had been allowed to walk to the grocery store, which was nearly an hour walk in total, to pick up Diego’s needed supplies with a 10 dollar limit. Upon their return, Diego quickly started preparing the three-course meal while Klaus had been pulled away by Sir Reginald.

While his older siblings were preparing for their assigned roles that evening, Allison and Luther in the living room by the piano and Diego in the kitchen, and his younger siblings were locked upstairs, Klaus was getting a quick lesson from Sir Reginald as to how he was meant to serve his guests that evening. He was to fill each of their glasses, one with water and the other with either red or white wine, then he was to serve each guest their first course, refill their glasses, clear the first course, serve the second course, refill their glasses again, clear the second course, provide ample time between the second and third courses, then serve the third course, and clear again once they were finished. Needless to say, it was quite a bit for his eight year old mind to comprehend. He was also expected to carry at least 10 dishes on a tray that was about the size of himself while serving the guests.

There were several factors going into the hastily planned evening that would spell trouble that evening, which, unfortunately for the eldest four Hargreeves orphans, was exactly what Sir Reginald had been expecting to happen.

The arrival of Sir Reginald’s 28 guests, and a cat, had gone perfectly splendid. Luther had done exactly as expected of him and Allison had butchered her piano playing too badly for Sir Reginald or any of the guests to be crossed with her. Klaus managed to fill the water  _ and _ wine glasses without spilling or breaking anything, Diego had gotten the first course out right on time, and Klaus was able to serve all 29 of the 30 portions without issue. Luther was told to remain by the front door, not allowed to help Klaus, or Diego, or visit Allison for the entire evening.

It wasn’t until Klaus had served the second course, managing to get through his list of expected assignments without spilling or breaking anything, quite a feat for the eight year old, that things had begun going awry. Just as Klaus slid the last plate of pasta with meat sauce and a piece of garlic bread in front of Sir Reginald’s last guest, their guardian loudly questioned, “What is this?” as he beckoned Klaus over to him.

“Pa-pasta.” Klaus answered, wishing he didn’t have to look into Sir Reginald’s cold dead eyes as he answered.

“It’s bad enough your idiot  _ brother _ has some stammering issue, it will  _ not _ be tolerated for another of you to have one.” Sir Reginald sneered, “And Klaude-”

“It’s Klaus.” Klaus corrected without thinking, immediately slapping his hands over his mouth the second he’d processed what he’d done.

But it was already too late. “What was that?” Sir Reginald growled, Luther had moved from the front door to stand in the entryway to the dining room and Diego had walked out of the kitchen at the commotion; Allison’s piano playing ceased moments later as she joined Luther’s side as the three eldest Hargreeves orphans watched with bated breath.

Klaus on the other hand, had already casted his gaze downward, not wanting to see the glare that Sir Reginald, as well as all of his dinner guests, had set upon him, “N-nothing Sir.”

Sir Reginald’s cold fingers forced Klaus’s chin upwards, making him look at their guardian as he sneered, “It sounded like  _ you _ were talking back to  _ me _ . And you know how backtalk is handled in  _ my _ house.”

“I’m-I’m s-sorry Sir.” Klaus cried immediately, “It-it wo-won’t happen-”

Before Klaus could finish his sobbed out apology, Sir Reginald had backhanded him, knocking the child to the floor with a bleeding scratch across his cheek and much like Luther had had before, the red outline of a hand on his face. “Silence you insufferable brat.” Sir Reginald snapped, “You  _ four _ will go upstairs immediately, and I don’t want to hear a sniffle escape that room. Now, get out.”

Diego sped from the kitchen door and helped Klaus up, and as soon as his brother’s feet were on the ground, Diego hastily lead them to the stairs, passing Allison and Luther without a second glance. Allison and Luther, both a bit stunned, were frozen for a second after Diego and Klaus passed them, long enough for Sir Reginald’s gaze to fall on them before Luther pushed Allison towards the stairs, Luther making sure that he was between Sir Reginald and Alli-his siblings. 

As soon as they reached the third floor, hopefully out of earshot of Sir Reginald, the four oldest Hargreeves orphans paused. While Diego wanted to punch either Luther or go back downstairs and punch Sir Reginald in the face, Allison was trying to check Klaus’s check, which was still bleeding. Allison pulled Klaus into the ‘bathroom’ across the hall from their room while Diego was arguing with Luther in the hallway in barely whispers.

“Luther, you have to call Mr. Clay tomorrow, or I will.” Diego threatened.

“You don’t get to make decisions like that Diego.” Luther shot back, “We just have to deal with the hand we’ve been dealt.”

Diego scoffed and sneered, “Well it’s been a pretty shit hand so far.”

Luther smacked Diego’s shoulder, causing Diego to smack him back, while Luther hissed, “Diego! Look, I get that it’s not the  _ best _ situation, but it’s not like-

“We’ve got a lot of options? Yeah, I know Luther.” Diego finished, But how much more of this are we expected to take? Where the fuck do you draw the line, Luther?”

“Diego don’t swear.” Luther reprimanded, although not a sliver of authoritativeness was in his voice, “You know how Mom felt about-”

“Guess what Luther, Mom’s not here anymore!” Diego snapped, “You need to grow the hell up Luther and take charge of this family and its safety, or I will. If you think that Sir Reginald is going to just  _ suddenly _ change his ways and be a somewhat decent caregiver to us, then you’re dumber than I ever thought.” Luther had made several attempts to stop Diego, but his enraged brother steamrolled right over him, “Sir Reginald has already hit me, you, and now Klaus, so again Luther, where do you draw the line? When it’s Ben? Vanya? Alli-”

“Shut up Diego.” Luther snapped, shoving Diego away from him, “You’ve made your point. I’ll find a way to call Mr. Clay in the morning and figure, find a way to get out of here.”

Alison and Klaus exiting the bathroom, with a few bandaids covering the scratch left by Sir Reginald on Klaus’s check, quickly put an end to Luther and Diego's little bout. Allison lead Klaus, Diego, and Luther back to their room, pulling the door chain open quickly. Five was the only one still up in the room, Ben curled up next to the cardboard box, while Vanya was sleeping on Five’s lap. The pile of stones had been scattered throughout the room, evidently from some game that Five, Ben, and Vanya had been playing while locked in the room. 

“What happened to your cheek, Klaus?” Five asked, looking between his older siblings but mostly focusing on Klaus as he ran his fingers through Vanya’s hair, “And what was with all the noise? There are babies sleeping you know.”

“Don’t ask.” Klaus huffed, flopping onto the bed, before immediately rolling off of it, carefully, so he didn’t thud onto the floor., not wanting to make any noise.

“Luther’s got everything handled,” Diego told Five, “right, Luther?”

Luther answered, “Right.” not all that convincingly. 

But who would’ve guessed that their lives would only get worse while living in Sir Reginald’s estate, and even beyond its reaches? Certainly not the Hargreeves orphans, but, perhaps, it was yet another incident that Sir Reginald Hargreeves had been counting on. Yet another piece of his puzzle to get the Hargreeves family fortune was clicking into place.

He hadn’t thought it would be quite this easy to manipulate a bunch of stupid orphans into doing  _ exactly _ as he wanted.


End file.
